The FTSE/JSE All Share (ALSI) gained 1.6% on a total return basis for the month. Large Caps (up 1.8%) outperformed Small Caps (up 1.3%) and Mid-Caps (up 0.9%).

The best-performing sectors were Forestry & Paper (up 9.5%), Coal Mining (up 8.9%) and Gold Mining (up 8.7%). The worst were Fixed Line Telecommunications (down 8.4%), Tobacco (down 4.8%) and Industrial Transportation (down 4.7%).

The Equity Fund achieved a total return of 1.8% for the month. This brings the year to date performance of the Fund to 15.9%, with the Fund outperforming both its benchmark and overall market total returns of 12.3% and 14.8% respectively.

The key contributors to the Equity Fund's out-performance this month came from the fund's positions in BHP Billiton (up 7.1%), Naspers (up 6%), Sasol (up 2.6%) and Anglo American (up 3.7%). Offsetting these positive contributions, the key detractors were positions in British American Tobacco (down 4.7%), Standard Bank (down 2.9%), Imperial (down 6.3%) and Richemont (down 3.2%).

In June, the Fund achieved a total return of 1.7% outperforming its benchmark, the General Equity Unit Trust Sector average return of 0.9%. This brings the year to date performance of the Fund to 8.4%, which we're pleased to report is better than both that of the benchmark and overall market total returns for the six months of 6.2% and 7.0% respectively.

A key feature of the market returns over the past six months has been the continued outperformance of the domestic consumer related companies and underperformance of the cyclical resource shares. Valuation multiples of many of the domestic industrial stocks appear stretched, both when compared against their own history and relative to the overall market. The market appears willing to pay a higher premium for those companies delivering earnings growth in an environment of low yields. By way of example, Shoprite is now trading on a forward PE to Jun-13 of 22x which compares to its median rating over the past 10 years of 17x. In contrast, global luxury goods company Richemont which historically has delivered a more cyclical earnings stream than food retailer Shoprite, is trading on a forward PE of 14x highlighting the market's concerns about a slowdown in Chinese demand. Needless to say, the Equity Fund is overweight Richemont and has no holding in Shoprite.

The key contributors to the Equity Fund's out-performance this month came from the fund's overweight positions in Adcock Ingram (up 6.9%), Foschini (up 7.5%), Investec (up 9.4%) and Old Mutual (up 4.6%). Offsetting these positive contributions, the key detractors were overweight positions in Richemont (down 8.3%), Basil Read (down 15.5%), Naspers (down 3.1%) and Standard Bank (down 3%).

During the quarter, globally, the outlook for the US became more positive, while Europe continued to be troubled with sovereign fears and slowing growth. Overall it appears as though some of the downside macro risks apparent at the beginning of the year have eased. This supported local equity returns, with the JSE All Share Index delivering a total return for the quarter of 6.0% and reaching an all-time high market capitalisation in February. It is pleasing to report that against this backdrop the Equity Fund achieved a total return for the first quarter 2012 of 8.0% exceeding the General Equity Unit Trust Sector median performance of 6.7%.

Within the local market there has however been a marked divergence between the performance of Resources, down 4.3% for the quarter, versus the Financial and Industrial stocks. The industrial performance, up 9.5% for the quarter, has been characterised by strong earnings growth particularly from the consumer related stocks, where low interest rates have continued to support demand.

The largest positive contributions to the Fund's performance this past quarter came from Imperial (up 28%), Woolworths (up 23%) and Coronation (up 24%). In addition, resource company Exxaro (up 20%) contributed positively whereas the Fund's holdings in Anglo American (down 3%) and BHP Billiton (up 0.5%) both detracted. Other detractors this quarter were the Fund's overweight position in Adcock Ingram (down 4%) and underweight position in Steinhoff (up 20%).

The star performer for the Equity Fund this quarter came from Industrial Transportation Company Imperial. Despite lacklustre volume in their consumer logistics business, vehicle sales for the second half of 2011 were strong and supported good earnings growth for Imperial. Overall the vehicle market recorded slowing growth in Q1 2012, but Imperial bucked this trend recording over 30% year-on-year growth in the quarter and providing support for the share price. The Imperial trailing PE of 12 times remains at a discount to its domestic industrial peers which have a trailing PE of approximately 18 times. We continue to hold a position in Imperial in the Equity Fund.

The Fund finished 2011 with a negative return of -1.3% for the month of December. This performance was better than that of the overall market, with the FTSE/ JSE All Share Index delivering -2.5% for the month, but fell short of that of the average General Equity Unit Trust return of +0.5%.

The past year proved to be an eventful year for equities as investors grappled with the implications of the weak economic environment in North America, the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis, social unrest in the Middle East region as well as significant events such as the tsunami in Japan. In early August, sentiment hit a low point with the All Share Index down 10% year to date, however renewed optimism in the latter half of the year saw our market index rally strongly to end the year up 2.6%.

We are pleased to report that over the past year, the Equity Fund managed to outperform both the general Equity Unit Trust Mean and the All Share Index, with a total return for the 12 months of 5.1%.

The star performers within the fund for 2011 came from our holdings in retailers Woolworths (+ 51%) and Foschini, (+ 24%), British American Tobacco (+ 56%), listed asset manager Coronation (+ 31%) and resource company Exxaro (+ 28%). It should be noted that this is the second year running in which Woolworths has been the biggest contributor to the funds active performance, with the retail group enjoyed strong top line growth coupled with margin expansion on the back of effi ciency gains extracted from the new management team.

The main detractor's to the fund's performance this year came from the overweight positions held in Investec (- 19%), resource counters Anglo American (-13%) and Billiton (-9%) as well as our lack of exposure to food producer Tiger Brands (+35%).